It’s you who wants a career change. What’s your biggest obstacle? Probably it’s you. For lots of us, fear of choosing the wrong career is the biggest thing holding us back.

If feeling scared to change jobs has stalled your career change, here are six ways to get unstuck.

Get a cheerleader

Stabilise a wobbly career change by finding a cheerleader. Choose someone who has the time and the inclination to buoy you up and keep you on track. Choose a friend or a colleague who knows you well enough to:

• chat through the challenges as you navigate career change’s ups and downs

• celebrate your discoveries and successes

• help you dig yourself out when you’re mired in doubt and dread

• give you a nudge when you’re spinning your wheels

• remind you how capable and clever you are, especially when you’re feeling like a fraud

Your cheerleader’s energy and insight can help you stay afloat in uncharted waters. Their support makes all the difference when you step out into the real world to explore your options.

Think less, act more

When indecision and analysis paralysis kick in, get out of your head and into action.

You’ll probably find lots of potentially fulfilling careers, so try to get close to as many of them as you can. Look for opportunities to volunteer or work shadow, arrange to meet with people in industries or roles that intrigue you.

‘Trying before you buy’ reveals the day-to-day reality of likely-looking careers.

Trust your gut

Counter overthinking by listening to your gut. Remind yourself that analysis paralysis hits when you’re trapped in your head with a bunch of shouty inner demons for company.

Successful career changes always involve lots of challenging choices. These decisions need time plus research, logic, intuition, and instinct. I did nine things to change careers; trusting my gut was one of them.

Watch for a buzz when a bit of potential career intell resonates. These zaps or twinges point you at pieces of solid data. If contact with a juicy-looking career connects and inspires you, that’s great. If you feel the role or the company is not for you, that’s great too!

Realign your mindset

Fear of making a wrong decision equals fear of losing something; face and friends, money or job security, or better opportunities waiting around the next corner. These fears can be acute when you’re already operating at the outer edge of your career comfort zone.

It’s a tough ask, but when you’re feeling stuck and anxious, try shifting your decision-making mindset from fixed to flexible.

A flexible mindset helps you deal creatively with the consequences of your decisions, whatever they are. It gifts you an open, curious, improvement-oriented view of the world and your place in it. If things go pear-shaped, you’re equipped to learn the lessons that failing can offer.

As a flexibly minded career changer, you’re focused on doing your personal best. You’re free to make healthy comparisons against your own and others’ performances.

Invite happenstance

When good stuff arrives out of the blue, that’s happenstance. Think random meetings with people who connect you to someone in a field or a company you’re keen to explore, or articles and job ads that pop up out of nowhere on your email or social media feeds.

If you’re open to the unpredictable and optimistic about the prospect of lucky breaks, the potential consequences of your decisions can feel a lot less frightening.

Attract career change happenstance by doing these three things:

• Stretching the boundaries of your comfort zone

• Challenging some common career change assumptions

• Getting out from behind your desk

If you’re still unconvinced about the impact of happenstance on building your career. Think about your current or past jobs. How did you ‘end up’ there? Was it what you’d planned? Chances are happenstance played its part.

Struggling with career change choices? Book a chat.

By Jo Green, Career Change Coach

I know that when you find what you love, heart and soul, your life changes. I work every day with people who are reshaping their current careers, starting new enterprises or searching for a new direction. Basically I help people who don’t like their job to figure out what to do instead!

As a Careershifters and Firework Advanced Certified Coach and experienced career changer myself, I can help you figure out what fulfilling work looks like for you.

Drop me a note to organise a free 20 minute consultation to chat about your career change and how coaching could help.